December 1st, 2012 was honestly one of the happiest days of my life! After skiing all day with my friend Caroline Dhavernas leading actress in my first feature Mars et Avril — Quebec’s first science fiction film — we had an amazing West Coast premiere at the WFF! After the screening, I offered a Q&A when I was given a phenomenal opportunity: TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) curator Chris Anderson was in the audience, unbeknownst to me, and at that moment I was providing Mr. Anderson with an audition for his own stage. On February 27th, 2013, I became the very first — and so far the only — speaker from Quebec in 30 years to have given a TED Talk in Long Beach, California. This talk, “How I made an impossible film,” has been viewed more than a million times and subtitled in 27 languages. It is also part of TED’s movie magic list, featuring famed directors such as James Cameron and J.J. Abrams. Since then, Mars et Avril is being referred to as the “Impossible Film” and has been sold to the U.S. for online distribution. Thanks to my TED Talk, I now have no less than four feature films in development! Therefore, I owe a lot to the WFF as this event led to a lot of positive rewards in my life and career. It more than justifies the seven years of hard work behind Mars et Avril.

The Whistler Film Festival Society is a charitable cultural organization dedicated to furthering the art of film by providing programs that focus on the discovery, development and promotion of new talent culminating with a must attend festival for artists, the industry and audiences in Whistler.